Judgment from Aurelia Browder et al. v. W. A. Gayle et al.
6/5/1956
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On March 2, 1955, Claudette Colvin, refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus and was arrested. One month later on April 29, Montgomery resident Aurelia Browder was forced to give up her seat on a city bus, inspiring Montgomery’s black community and the Women’s Political Council to begin planning a boycott.
Months later, on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a sexual assault investigator for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), boarded a Montgomery city bus and was arrested for not giving up her seat. Following Parks’s arrest, JoAnn Robinson, President of the Women’s Political Council, distributed 50,000 fliers calling for a daylong bus boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began on December 5 and continued for 381 days.
Colvin and Browder along with two other women, Mary Louise Smith and Susie McDonald, became plaintiffs in the civil suit Browder vs. Gayle filed in U.S. District Court, challenging the constitutionality of the Montgomery and Alabama segregation laws (the buses operated by the City of Montgomery were privately owned).
In this judgment, a three-judge court composed of Richard T. Rives, Seybourn H. Lynne, and Frank M. Johnson, Jr. found that "the enforced segregation of Negro and white passengers on motor buses operating in the City of Montgomery violates the Constitution and laws of the United States."
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision, legally ending racial segregation on public transportation in the state of Alabama and ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Months later, on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a sexual assault investigator for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), boarded a Montgomery city bus and was arrested for not giving up her seat. Following Parks’s arrest, JoAnn Robinson, President of the Women’s Political Council, distributed 50,000 fliers calling for a daylong bus boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began on December 5 and continued for 381 days.
Colvin and Browder along with two other women, Mary Louise Smith and Susie McDonald, became plaintiffs in the civil suit Browder vs. Gayle filed in U.S. District Court, challenging the constitutionality of the Montgomery and Alabama segregation laws (the buses operated by the City of Montgomery were privately owned).
In this judgment, a three-judge court composed of Richard T. Rives, Seybourn H. Lynne, and Frank M. Johnson, Jr. found that "the enforced segregation of Negro and white passengers on motor buses operating in the City of Montgomery violates the Constitution and laws of the United States."
The Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision, legally ending racial segregation on public transportation in the state of Alabama and ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
This primary source comes from the Records of District Courts of the United States.
National Archives Identifier: 279206
Full Citation: Judgment from Aurelia Browder et al. v. W. A. Gayle et al.; 6/5/1956; File Unit: Aurelia S. Browder et al. v. W. A. Gayle et al., No. 1147, 9/1938 - 11/26/1968; Series: Civil Cases, 9/1938 - 11/26/1968; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21; National Archives at Atlanta, Morrow, GA. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/judgment-browder-v-gayle, March 24, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.